Fundraising Consultant

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They are hosting an Intro to Whale Hunting at 12:00 - 1:00 pm.  This is a free event with light refreshments served.  You can register for this event here: Open Registration--Free Event

Later in the same day you are invited to cocktails and hors d'oeuves at Capital Grille from 4:30-5:30 pm.  This event requires a $30 registration fee for food and beverages.  You can register here: Open Registration

 

Rosemary Brehm, president of turningpoints2results, is an entrepreneur and expert in helping organizations accelerate their potential into profitable results by focusing on five key shifts in their businesses: strategic business performance; leadership alignment; team dynamics; customer intimacy, and competitive positioning.   In addition to her consulting services, Rosemary is certified as a Professional Facilitator (CPF) through the International Association of Facilitators.

Rosemary was founding Chair of the Tampa Bay Women President’s Organization and served that group from 2003-2009. She is a member of the International Association of Facilitators; the Senior HRD Forum; ASTD; and the Organizational Development SIG.  She holds a Certificate in Training and Development from New York University and a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from the State University of New York at Geneseo.

With over 22 years of experience in leading business development and sales efforts for Technology, Software, and Outsourcing solutions, Brian Zaas has a background in business operations optimization, systems integration, custom application development and technology leadership.  He has been responsible for driving global business development and professional service efforts for leading Fortune 500 corporations including Fujitsu, CA, and MCI-Worldcom as well as start-up growth for Pilgrim Software, Best Programs Telcordia, and most recently is leading efforts for Enterprise Solutions with Avineon.

He has led strategic and innovative solution areas for Fortune 500 and emerging growth customers in need of IT, technology, outsourcing and the infrastructure management.  Brian has also consulted with market leaders across a number of industries on leadership, pipeline development, innovation, and sales in new product development and market penetration focusing on large, complex deals. 

The Whale Hunters are proud to introduce these new Certified Whale Hunters Patners who will provide services to the Tampa business community.

 

Would you like to join our team?

The Whale Hunters needs Chapter Chairs in several metropolitan markets.   The Whale Hunters provides a turnkey program that has the potential for immediate income. When you become a certified Whale Hunters Partner, you become a member of an elite team that may chair one or more local chapters of business leaders, deliver workshops, consult or coach. The Whale Hunters is a scalable, flexible opportunity with a low cost of entry and high return.

Qualified candidates are entrepreneurial, well-connected in the small business community, excellent in sales, and able to facilitate a group of strong-minded business leaders.

If you or someone you know would be interested in learning more about opening a Whale Hunters chapter in metropolitan area, please contact us at chapters@thewhalehunters.com or call 480-239-6902.

One of my long-time business friends called recently with a whale hunting problem. He is in the software development and training business and has had several whale-sized clients over the years.

This time, however, the prospect refused to sign his company’s standard contract in favor of their own. And this contract was onerous. In particular, it stated that the whale company would own all rights to any materials created for them or modified for them. The seller would technically no longer have the right to re-sell templates or standard software that had been customized in any way for this customer. They would also lose the right to include this customer’s bugs and fixes, anonymously, in their ongoing FAQ materials available to all customers.

Furthermore, the small company’s hesitancy on this contract was making the whale angry and the deal seemed about to slip away.

He asked what I thought he should do? Here are a few ideas I offered:

1.    It’s very common for a big company to have a very different view of contracts than the small company does. Sometimes you will have requirements in your standard contract that no large company is going to sign, period. Other times, you will be faced as my friend was with a contract that frightens you. If you want to complete your big sales, you’ll have to find a way to come to terms quickly.

2.    Big companies have staff lawyers; maybe you don’t. If not, be sure that you consult regularly with an attorney who specializes in entrepreneurial ventures and will come to understand your business. Have your attorney review the contract with an eye to any pitfalls. Now is not the time to save money—invest in some good advice.

3.    If the attorney’s advice is ambiguous, you’ll just have to decide how much you want this business. Is it likely that the customer could or would cause you real trouble down the road contractually, or are they just using boilerplate language to protect their own interests? If there seems to be real danger, now is the time to say no. But if any danger is remote and unlikely, and otherwise you want to do the business, get the contract signed.

4.    Once you begin doing the work, be scrupulous about following the rules of the contract. If issues arise that are not clear-cut, negotiate them and get agreement in writing.

Contracts between big and small companies are tedious because each faces different kinds and levels of risk, regulation, and responsibility. If you routinely have problems negotiating a contract with a large customer, work on your own contract to make it more familiar to the whales.

Have you ever lost a job through contract negotiations? Have you signed a contract that proved to be a mistake? Post your comments below.

 

• you can beat the field on unique past experience (and don't kid yourself!)
• you can beat the field on a unique plan of work (which will save money)
• you know what the current provider is being paid (and you can beat it)
• you are the incumbent (and you can leverage the relationship)

• Explore your bidding history.  What are the proposals in which you have lost out on price?  Do you have detailed feedback on pricing and other elements of your proposal?  If so, use them going forward.
   
• Find and use data.  Be certain that you understand standard pricing for sales in your industry, especially pricing among your large competitors.
   
• Hire a consultant.  Use a pricing expert to help you consider options and to understand the competition.
   
• Take more training.  For government contracts especially, many training programs are available for your team to learn more about costs and pricing for government business at the local, state, and federal levels.
   
• Match your deliverables to the requirements.  When you must compete on price, don't add any frills or "nice to haves."  Stick with the minimum requirements and price aggressively.

• First thing you need to know is how the government defines "small business."  In most industries, the category includes businesses with as many as 500 employees.  So if you are much smaller, and much newer, than the competition, the odds are heavily stacked against you unless you have a product or service that the government wants and no one else offers yet.
   
• The idea of presenting yourself as a subcontractor rather than prime is especially relevant.  Prime contractors need to demonstrate their inclusion of small businesses including women-owned and minority-owned firms.  Companies in those categories that are professional, reliable, and knowledgeable about government contracting are at a premium.  Rather than working directly for a local, state, or federal government, you work for the contractor.
   
• If the subcontractor route interests you, build a sales process that targets prime contractors, not government agencies.  You will need a completely different approach and message.
   
• If you have not done business deals with public agencies, understand that there is a great deal to learn.  Everything from how to respond to the RFP to how to invoice and track expenses will be new and foreign.  If you are not ready, the requirements can  undermine your company seriously.  Even as a subcontractor, you will need to contribute meaningfully to the proposal.

Has the recession affected your spending habits?

These are not questions that affect my business life or even my "balanced" life.  Ladies Home Journal cornered that market a long time ago, and People covers the dirt on public figures.  If these are questions of interest related to business, they are not gender-specific.  Could you possibly imagine an invitation to male business owners based upon questions like these?

The Forbes Fiasco comes right on the heels of Dell's incredible faux pas in launching the "Della."

But this blog is about sales and business development, so I need a link from my real anger at Forbes to some positive ideas or actions for business owners and sales leaders.  Especially women, but this is equally important for men.

In the jargon of my business, Forbes is a whale--a big company with a big reach, a big media reach.  It matters when major businesses screw up like this.   Business people around the world--owners, entrepreneurs, executives, employees, students, wannabe's--they look to Forbes for insight, support, advice, and current events, and not incidentally, the current business environment in the United States.   What is the message?  The message is that in the midst of a very difficult global economic climate, the American business women are busy standing by their men who cheat and lie, focusing on their office outfits, buying make-up and shoes, and making their daughters rich.  That is not a good message or a remotely true message!

I am an advisor to small and midsized business about how to grow by doing bigger deals with bigger clients.  It is ALL about understanding your target customer and presenting yourself in a way that is attractive to them, meets their needs, does not annoy them, and does not frighten them.  This offer I received from Forbes violates all of those criteria.

So before you make the Forbes mistake, my advice is to consult with your target audience about their business interests, their business needs, their business challenges and their perceived opportunities. 

The people at Forbes are obviously trying to get on the very popular and lucrative women-in-business bandwagon.  I applaud their motives and hope they will find a way to be successful.  But here's just a quick laundry list of topics that would be oh-so-much more interesting to business women:
 

• who are the lenders and investment bankers targeting women-owned businesses?
• how can your company get involved in the federal stimulus package?
• How are female leaders and employees responding to downsizing and outsourcing? 
• What can you do when you are downsized or outsourced?
• How can business owners mitigate the recession influence on their employees?
• what are the most promising new business fields or opportunities of particular interest to women?

• "Creative Class" cities with lots of entrepreneurial activity, well-networked, open to new ideas and hungry for economic development, business growth, and community engagement.
   
• Local representatives/Chapter Chairs.  Key people with good community connections, strong sales and business development experience, entrepreneurial spirit, to assist in convening the Whale Hunters Launch in your region and to populate and lead one or more local chapters of 12-15 members.  You may be an independent consultant, a coach, a trainer, an entrepreneur? 
   
• Members of local chapters and prospective attendees at local workshops.  You don't want to lead but would like to see Whale Hunters services delivered close to you at prices you can afford. 
   
• Sponsors.  National and local business owners, executives, and marketers who want to be in front of The Whale Hunters target audience of small to mid-size business owners, sales executives, and development officers.  We are grateful to Bose McKinney & Evans for sponsoring the Indianapolis summit  and delighted to announce the National Bank of Arizona as our lead sponsor for the Phoenix launch.
   
• Communication Partners.  National and local organizations that can help us market Whale Hunters events and related opportunities.  Chambers of Commerce, TV and radio, digital broadcast programs, business journals, for sure.  Also local/regional businesses willing to co-sponsor and share their digital database in a mutually beneficial fashion.

Indiana University announced yesterday the biggest technology transfer deal in its history: the sale of Angel Learning to Blackboard for $100 million.

This is a great example of what I define as a "whale hunt" that starts out as a collaborative project rather than a sale, per se.  Here's briefly how it happened.  A professor and student team at IUPUI (Indiana University/Purdue University Indianapolis) developed a technology named OnCourse to enable faculty to provide online courses and other learning experiences.  That system enabled IU to become one of the national leaders in online courses and degree programs. 

As part of the university's technology transfer programs--designed to commercialize promising inventions by university faculty through university/industry collaborations--Angel Learning was founded less than 10 years ago.  It was nurtured in the university's first incubator in Bloomington, IN, and currently resides at the Emerging Technology Center that houses the Indiana University Research and Technology Corporation in Indianapolis.

Indiana University stands to gain $23 million from the sale, funds that will be reinvested in research and commercial development or promising technologies invented by its faculty.

I was very fortunate to have a role in this story along the way.  In 2001, Bill Plater, who was then Vice Chancellor for Academics and Dean of the Faculties at IUPUI, engaged my company Smith Weaver Smith to guide a faculty team to create a 10-year educational technology plan for the campus.  We involved faculty from many campus departments to participate in collaborative planning sessions, and we invited industry leaders and training coordinators to bring their perspective to the faculty's ideas.  A major component of the resulting plan was the recommendation to continue investing in the fledgling OnCourse technology to support teaching and learning.

Whale Hunting is sometimes much bigger than a sale or a business development opportunity.  This is community and economic development from the ground up, involving not just one company but a community of educators, business development specialists, industry leaders, end users, and researchers.  It is complex.  It is collaborative.  It requires that people with very different skill sets and perspectives learn how to understand one another and undertake a common goal.  It works when supported by great process and planning and a commitment to long-term investment.

Congratulations to IU and the IUPUI team for getting this right.  This has been a big week for technology in Indiana--Exact Target's $70 million funding and IU's $100 million sale!

• This book, written by a woman, about women's business successes, attracted a predominantly female network of support (kudos to men who helped as well!).
• MGM and her publicity team supported viral media with many personal contacts via telephone, email, blog visits, etc.  They were engaged and generous.
• Value proposition was delivered for supporters--to date I have had 33 downloads of the book I offered [coming soon at The Whale Hunters] with names/email addresses for each.
• MGM "celebrated the whale" -- thank you notes delivered very promptly and warmly to all who helped.

Today I’m starting a blog series on The Whale Hunters Process. It's a how-to process for landing big sales with customers that are much bigger than you! It consists of three stages—scout, hunt, and harvest—and nine phases, illustrated below.

• It is a strategic business development methodology for explosive growth.
• It meets the needs of entrepreneurs and small business owners and executives who want to have fewer, larger sales to increasingly larger customers. 
• It assumes that you have a complex sale, not a simple transaction.  You are selling a service, a system, or a combination of products and support, training, or consulting.
• It includes subject matter experts as part of the sales team.
• It assumes that the sales process is not complete until the contract has been fulfilled.
• It provides everyone in your company with a defined role in selling and delivering your products and services.

I've joined the writing team at the Women on Business blog--will have a regular column each Sunday evening.  My current post is Three Soft Skills for Hard Deals.

Blog owner Susan Gunelius has enlisted a team of business women to blog about business from the perspectives of entrepreneurs and business owners, consultants, women executives, sales persons, leaders--covering everything from strategy and marketing to equality and work/home life.  I hope you'll check it out--interesting and comprehensive.

The Women on Business Roundtable is a new service.  Submit your business question or dilemma; one will be chosen each week as a featured presentation, with the writing team and other participants offering advice and suggestions.  The first entry is from Hairzing, who posed a serious problem of unfair competition facing their company.  How can a small business handle that situation?  Perhaps the whale hunters readers can help!

Does your business have a blog?  Do you have one writer or several?  I would love to hear about your blogging strategy and how it's working as a business driver.

• lack of capital
• fear of failure
• fear of success
• want to balance work and family
• lack of business development knowledge

In the last few weeks, I've consulted with clients on about a dozen RFP and RFI proposals.  The art of business proposal writing is becoming more important even as it becomes more elusive to entrepreneurs and sales teams.  I will write a series of blogs and newsletters on this topic in the coming weeks.  Today's writing tips are about organizing information within the sections of your proposal:

• Credentials.  You're probably including some boilerplate statements about your company as well as some statements specific to this prospect.  Suddenly the presentation is not coherent to the reader.  It has a little history, a little client data, a few key sales points, and several people have added on.  The fix?  Find 3 key points of emphasis about you company and make all of the details subordinate.
   
• Lists.   Suppose you have a list of 15 program components--products and/or services that you intend to provide.  Readers cannot process and comprehend that number of unrelated messages.  Even if they try, the effort leaves them tired and confused.  The fix?  Pull out your few key deliverables.  Make all of the subsidiary components either go away or become sub-points.  P.S.  I am in favor of making them go away.
   
• Statements.  At the risk of sounding kind of English-professo-rish,  (I come by it naturally!) there is an easy way to make your key statements more memorable.  And that is to make all of the phrases or sentences follow the same language pattern.  Here's an example:

Suppose you have statements like these:

--All change orders will be processed by us within 48 hours.
--When we host your help desk service, you are guaranteed to have availability 99.9% of the time.
--All of your account team will be assigned to you as a dedicated team.

Here's the rewrite on an informal, friendly basis:

• We process change orders within 48 hours
• We guarantee 99.9% uptime on your hosted help desk service
• We assign a dedicated account team

Another rewrite, more formal and distant:

• Change orders processes within 48 hours
• 99.9% help desk uptime guaranteed
• Dedicated account team assigned

Either approach will work.  They key is to use the same pattern of words and phrases, which has the effect of clarity and memorability.

Try these rewrite tips, and let me know how they work for you.

You must be as weary as I am of media analysts who try to explain what has already happened, as if they had made it happen or knew all along that it would happen.

I'm much more interested in the people whose thinking caps are focused on the future--what does what's happening now have to do with what might happen next?

So in the spirit of your kickoff activities for 2009, I offer to you whale hunters and other entrepreneurs an eclectic little list of provocative sites where you will find predictions--both exciting and sobering--about trends that will influence consumers, businesses, governments, and the global economy.

A serious site, Gerald Celente's Trends Research Institute offers very little for free, but you an subscribe to his quarterly journal or explore consulting services to help you manage new product and service ideas or offerings.  Watch for Celente on Oprah, CNN, and other major media.

Check out the TrendSpotting Blog--all about online marketing and social media.  Refreshingly clever presentation and an all-round solid job on aggregating the trend ideas of other major figures in the marketing space.

Not a trend analysis site, but slideshare.com offers a great location to find publicly-shared presentation decks, many of which were developed from amazing data sets.  I've found futures-oriented advice on topics ranging from an analysis of India's economy in comparison to the US to the Top Ten Technology Inventions of 2008.

Whale hunting is all about beating your competitors in market intelligence.  Where do you go to shop for trends?

At a Whale Hunters seminar in Phoenix, Laura Galante of Sitewire Interactive Marketing spoke as a representative of "the whale." Based upon her experience as a marketing director/buyer of marketing services, she confirmed the whale hunting premise of the buyers' table--that team of people who influence buying decisions in a very large company.

We talk about the "polar bear"--the economic buyer, who has the power to say "yes" to a sale.  But Laura added the concept of the "hibernating polar bear"--one who is not going to make the "yes" decision initially but can ultimately say "no."

One hibernating polar bear is the C-level person to whom the key buyer reports.  Not interested in any of the details, that person simply wants to ratify any decision to spend money, even money that is budgeted.  Another hibernating polar bear is a legal department that refuses to authorize the project after funding has been committed.  Any example is a legal department that would not allow a corporate blogging project under any circumstances.  One more hibernating polar bear is a CFO who slashes the budget or redirects funding.

As a whale hunter, you may never meet these bears in hibernation.  Occasionally one will pop into your big presentation, but that is iffy.  What can you do?

According to Laura in her "whale" role, your best bet is to make it very easy for your key buyer to defend and sell the project "up."  This means one paragraph, chart, slide, or page of data/info that summarizes the ROI (return on investment).

I wrote a newsletter today about a feature of the RFP (Request for Proposals) process:  it's on the topic of the Open Meeting.  I won't repeat it here--you can check it out online if it's a keen topic for you.

Do you have sometimes have to sell by submitting an RFP?  And if so, do you have a corporate RFP strategy?

Sometimes we think because the RFP is a written document that the ordinary sales rules don't apply.  Chase them all--see what happens--low risk, low reward.

However, responding to an RFP is a high risk, low reward strategy unless you can establish with certainty that you have a better-than-even probability of winning.  The hidden costs of an RFP response are considerable--staff time, research, even copies and overnight shipping fees--yikes!  These add up. Not to mention the opportunity cost--what if you had deployed your team in a different direction?

WBE and MBE companies almost always bid for government work through RFPs.  That's why it's important to create a powerful RFP process at the core of your business development plan.  Consider RFP training, invest in a system of business proposal writing, engage a grant writer or fundraising consultant for your next big thing.

Second is the worst place to finish in this game.  Why?  You paid the most to lose.